When users of web search engines or browsers enter search requests, snapshots corresponding to the web pages of the search requests may be produced. However, it is often the case that the snapshots do not offer useful information and do not reflect the contents of the original web pages. In certain circumstances, the snapshots themselves may be low quality images or simply snapshots of error pages due to certain web pages being removed, or being under maintenance. Thus, when users view these results, they may not see results that produce web pages that can be navigated to for useful information. Additionally, users may need to spend time sifting through results to find results with snapshots that are useable and offer useful information.
If high quality snapshots are acquired, there is still the problem of users wanting to be sure that they are viewing refreshed. For example, a user may select a snapshot, but find that the web page being viewed is not properly represented by the snapshot. Thus, it would be beneficial for users to view snapshots of web pages that accurately reflect their associated web pages. As a result, management of web page snapshots with respect to providing search results is an important consideration to provide users with a seamless web search experience.
Additionally, search results are often provided in an fashion where navigation of results is not entirely convenient for the user. For example, search results may be displayed as a list of search results with no way for the user to determine which result is the most relevant, and which search results are associated with web pages that are active or indicative of what the user is looking for.
Search has traditionally been a serial process requiring a user to perform the following steps to potentially find a relevant search result: 1) type a search query; 2) enter search query; 3) review text-only search results page; 4) select a search result; 5) view the resulting site corresponding to the search result; 6) select browser back button to return to search results page; and 7) select another search result. This makes for a very cumbersome experience that is inefficient because a user is only able to view results after entering the full search query. Also, the longer it takes to review results, the longer it may take to modify the query appropriately to match the intent of the user. Additionally, text-based titles, abstracts, or URL search results are not effective for always conveying what the user will view when they navigate to the web page.